Central strap lock, especially for body harness equipment for parachute jumpers

ABSTRACT

A central strap lock, especially for parachutists, in which the parachute straps converging to a central area of the lock can all but one quickly be released from the lock by depressing an actuating member, e.g. in the form of a rotatable disc, which can register with at least two circular positions, while a holding member in axial alignment with one of the anchor bolts for receiving the ends of the straps retains contact with said one anchor bolt to positively prevent separation of the respective strap from the said one anchor bolt when the anchor bolt support is depressed.

United States Patent Pfabe [54] CENTRAL STRAP DOCK, ESPECIALLY FOR BODYHARNESS EQUIPMENT FOR PARACHUTE JUMPERS [72] Inventor: Peter Pfabe,Hamburg, Germany [73] Assignee: Autoilug GmbH, Egenbuttel, Germany [22]Filed: Sept. 1, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 177,041

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 3, 1970 Germany ..P 20 43634.4

52 vs. C! ..'..24/20s.17 51 Int. Cl. ..A47b 19/00 58 Field of Search..24/2os.17, 230

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [451 Nov. 28, 1972 3,639,9482/1972 Sherman... ..24/20S. 17

Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay

Assistant Examiner-Garry Moore .Att0rneyWalter Becker [57] ABSTRACT Acentral strap lock, especially for parachutists, in

which the parachute straps converging to a central' area of the lock canall but one quickly be released from the lock by depressing an actuatingmember, e. g. yin the form of a rotatable disc, which can register with{at least two circular positions, while a holding member in axialalignment with one of the anchor bolts for receiving the ends of thestraps retains contact with; said one anchor bolt to positively preventseparation of the respective strap from the said one anchor bolt whenthe anchor bolt support is depressed.

. fi ure 3,522,630 8/1970 Klink...- ..24/20s. 17=

CENTRAL STRAP LOCK, ESPECIALLY FOR BODY HARNESS EQUIPMENT FOR PARACHUTEJUMP Rs The invention relates to acentral strap lock, especially forbody harness equipment of parachute jumpers, for quick and at the sametime detachable connection of a plurality of straps which have one endprovided with a connecting piece and which converge at a central areaMore specifically, the present invention relates to a central strap lockof the above men tioned type which comprises a lock housing and aprimary pivot centrally housed therein, said pivot being displaceable inthe direction of its longitudinal axis and having a rotatable disc onthe outside of the lock housing for controlling the lock and beingsupported on the inside by an anchor plate, saidanchor plate preferablyhaving four anchor bolts which are parallel to the primary pivot and aremovable within the lock housing. In one position, these anchor boltspenetrate corresponding transverse slots in the housing which slots areadapted to receive the connecting piece of the respective strap. Whenthe connectingpieces are in the slots, the anchor bolts will centrallyhold thestraps together. In their other position, the anchor bolts arewithdrawn from the slots, thereby releasing the connecting pieces andthus freeing the straps from the lock. N Central strap locks of thistype are known and disclosed, for instance, in German Pat. No. 651,575and German Auslegeschrift No. 1,002,632 and British Pat. No. 577,503. Ifwith such central strap locks after the parachu tist has landed therotatable disc is operated in the prescribed manner, all of the anchorbolts are withdrawn downwardly from the respective slots in the lockhousing, thereby releasing all of the connecting pieces of the attachedstraps. In this manner the lock, as such, alone remains behind and as arule falls from the body of the parachute jumper. The loss of the lockusually results.

To avoid this loss, it has already been proposed, for instance by SwissPat. No. 155,662, that the lock housing be provided with a specialextension. This extension has a slot through which a particular holdingstrap is passed, which strap is independent of the anchor bolts andremains hanging on the lock after release of the lock. However, this hasthe disadvantage of anadditional structural expense and above allrepresents a hindrance when the harness equipment is taken off quickly.This hindrance consists in that the particular holding strap must in itsturn be connected to the harness equipment. This is accomplished with across strap, which in its turn is connected with two of the straps whichextend radially to the middle of the body and thereby to the lock, sothat the straps cannot freely move.

It is also provided by the above mentioned central strap lock that theanchor plate with the anchor bolts be made of one piece. Due to this, asimplification of the inner construction of the central strap lockresults.

It is an object of the present invention to improve a lock of the abovementioned type in such a way that, when the lock is released, it willremain connected to the harness equipment, thereby preventing a loss ofthe lock.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lock as setforth in the preceding paragraph, which does not require a particularholding strap.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a lock asoutlined above, which is simple in design and remains easy to operate.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear moreclearly from the following specification in connection with theaccompanying drawing in which a partial sectional side view of a centralstrap lock according to the invention is shown and in which a not yetfreed connecting piece has been inserted.

The invention is characterized primarily in that, in the lock housing, aholding element is located above at least one anchor bolt. Duringoperation of the lock, the holding element conforms to the movements ofthe anchor bolt, so that during removal of the anchor bolt from theslot, the holding element takes the position in the slot previously heldby the respective anchor bolt, thereby securely holding the strapconnecting piece. In this way not only is the presented problemcompletely solved, but in addition, the advantage is obtained that thelock, when released, may remain hanging on any desired connecting pieceor strap. The reason for this is that, to secure the lock, one of theanchor bolts, or to some extent artificial extension of the same isused, which bolt is, and must be, available anyway to retain the normalconnecting pieces When using the harness equipment, theparachuter onlyhas to see to it that that connecting piece, on which the lock shalllater remain hanging, registers with the correct anchor bolt. This maybe readily accomplished by means of a marking, for example, a coloredmark.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a locking bolt issupported in a bore of the lock housing in alignment with an anchor boltand above the locking position of the same. Said locking bolt isdisplaceable in its longitudinal direction, and follows the movements ofthe pertaining anchor bolt and has such a length that its lower endrests upon the top of the anchor bolt while its upper end engages theunderside of the rotatable disc.

In this way only one single additional structural part is required inorder to impart the characteristic features of the invention to thelock. Even already available locks may be changed over to the new designwith little expendituresTo this end, only a hole for receiving ormounting the locking bolt in the lock housing need be bored, whereuponthe locking bolt is inserted and the rotatable disc reassembled. Therotatable disc then holds the locking bolt at its place and also bringsabout its longitudinal displacement and therewith its operation. Themaintaining of constant contact between locking bolts and anchor boltsis effected by the already present pressure springs for the respectiveanchor bolts.

A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that theanchor plate with the anchor bolts is of one piece. In this way anespecially simple construction is obtained, since the number of parts inthe lock is considerably reduced. Of course, the invention works just aswell with locks having anchor bolts not securely connected to the anchorplates, but rather have a cross shaped anchor plate the ends of whichguide the anchor bolts in a fork shaped manner.

According to the invention, the holding bolt may also form a truncatedcone on that side facing the anchor bolt, and may have a convex shape onthat side acted upon by the rotatable disc. In this way the movabilityof the holding bolt in the housing is improved, and the assurance ofproper functioning of the central strap lock thereby increased.

Finally, the invention embraces yet another embodiment, which ischaracterized in that the diameter of the holding bolt is less than thediameter of the' anchor bolt. In this way material is saved, because theholding bolt need absorb only little stress, while the anchor bolt mustcarry all the weight of the parachute jumper and his equipment.

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the lock mechanism in a locked position.

FIG. 2 is a view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the arrangement shown comprisesa lock housing 1 of the known square plan view configuration, which isprovided centrally with a main pivot 2, which pivot carries at its top arotatable disc 3 for manually actuating the lock. A guide pin 4 visibleonly by its side view in the drawing serves to generate clearlynoticeable stop positions during turning of the rotatable disc 3. Withinthe housing 1, which is closed on the bottom by a cap 5, is arranged across shaped anchor plate 6. The anchor plate 6 has four anchor bolts 7,which consist of one piece with the anchor plate 6. The central portionof the anchor plate 6 is movably connected to the lower end of the mainpivot 2, so that the rotatable disc 3 may be turned independently of,and displaced with, the anchor plate 6. The lower end of each anchorbolt 7 has a recess for receiving the upper end of a helical compressionspring 8 which urges the respective anchor bolt and thereby the anchorplate as well as the main pivot and the rotatable disc in upwarddirection.

The housing 1 is provided with transverse slots 9 in the region of theanchor bolts 7, which slots are large enough that an eye shapedconnecting piece 10 of the corresponding strap 11 may be inserted tosuch an extent that the eye is penetrated by the respective anchor bolt7. The anchor bolts 7 are slanted at their tops towards the outside sothat they are pressed downwardly during insertion of the connectingpiece 10 until they can again snap into the eye.

Coaxially with, and above, an anchor bolt 7, the housing 1 is providedwith a bore 12 having arranged therein a holding bolt 13 which forms atruncated cone on its bottom and is rounded off on top. The holding bolt13 is of such a length that it fills up the space between the upper edgeof the anchor bolt 7 and the lower surface of the rotatable disc 3 sothat a frictional connection from the cap to the rotatable disc 3through the spring 8, the anchor bolt 7, and the holding bolt 13 isobtained. In other words, the holding bolt 13 is in constant contactwith the anchor bolt 7.

During the release of the central strap lock, the rotatable disc 3 isfirst turned in the known way by one quarter of its circumference anddisengaged as well as subsequently pressed down towards the housing 1.In this way, the main pivot 2 pushes the anchor plate 6 down against thethrust of the springs 8, the anchor bolts 7 are displaced downwardly outof the slots 9, and the connecting pieces situated therein are free toleave the slots. However, this is not possible with that anchor bolt 7which is in contact with the holding bolt 13, because, when therotatable disc 3 is depressed, the

holding bolt 13 which continually follows the descending anchor bolt 7moves downwardly into the respective slot 9, until the holding bolt 13,in relation to the connecting piece 10, takes the place of the anchorbolt 7, thereby preventing the connecting piece 10 from moving out ofthe slot.

When the central strap lock is subsequently needed again for placing theharness on a jumper, the rotatable disc 3 is turned back in the knownmanner until the anchor plate 6 is released and can be moved upwardly bythe thrust of the springs 8. In this way the respective anchor bolt 7pushes the holding bolt 13, which follows the rotatable disc 3, upwardlyso that finally the position represented in the drawing is againobtained.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is by nomeans limited to the specific showing in the drawing but also comprisesany modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A central strap lock, especially for parachutists, for use inconnection with a plurality of parachute straps meeting at a centralarea and respectively provided with connecting elements having anopening therethrough, which includes: lock housing means, stud meanssubstantially centrally located in said lock housing means anddisplaceable along its longitudinal axis, anchor plate means arrangedwithin and axially displaceably and resiliently supported by said lockhousing means and supporting said stud means, said anchor plate meansbeing provided with a plurality of anchor bolts for respectivelyentering the openings of said connecting elements to thereby hold thesame, actuating means arranged outside said lock housing means andsupported by said stud means while being selectively axially movable inthe direction toward said housing means, and holding means interposedbetween said ac- I tuating means and one of said anchor bolts whilebeing in axial alignment with said one anchor bolt to thereby preventthe respective connecting element from moving out of its slot.

2. A lock according to claim 1, in which said lock housing means isprovided with slot means corresponding in number to the number of saidanchor bolts and respectively registering therewith, said slot meansrespectively being adapted to receive said connecting elements, and saidanchor bolts being urged into said slot means.

3. A lock according to claim 1, in which said actuating means is formedby a rotatable disc, and in which said stud means is formed by a pivot.

4. A lock according to claim 1, in which said holding means includes anaxially displaceable holding bolt arranged in axial alignment with saidone anchor bolt, and in which said housing means has a bore arranged insubstantially axial alignment with said one anchor bolt for slidinglymaintaining said holding bolt in axial alignment with said one anchorbolt during axial movement of said holding bolt.

5. A lock according to claim 1, in which said anchor plate means is ofone and the same piece with said anchor bolts.

6. A look according to claim 4, in which one end of said holding bolt istruncated cone shaped and normally in engagement with said one anchorbolt, and in which the other end of said holding bolt is convex andnormally in engagement with said rotatable disc.

7. A lock according to claim 4, in which the diameter yieldably urgedinto continuous engagement with said one anchor bolt.

9. A lock according to claim 1, in which said anchor bolts haverespectively associated therewith helical spring means interposedbetween said anchor bolts and the bottom of said housing means.

1. A central strap lock, especially for parachutists, for use inconnection with a plurality of parachute straps meeting at a centralarea and respectively provided with connecting elements having anopening therethrough, which includes: lock housing means, stud meanssubstantially centrally located in said lock housing means anddisplaceable along its longitudinal axis, anchor plate means arrangedwithin and axially displaceably and resiliently supported by said lockhousing means and supporting said stud means, said anchor plate meansbeing provided with a plurality of anchor bolts for respectivelyentering the openings of said connecting elements to thereby hold thesame, actuating means arranged outside said lock housing means andsupported by said stud means while being selectively axially movable inthe direction toward said housing means, and holding means interposedbetween said actuating means and one of said anchor bolts while being inaxial alignment with said one anchor bolt to thereby prevent therespective connecting element from moving out of its slot.
 2. A lockaccording to claim 1, in which said lock housing means is provided withslot means corresponding in number to the number of said anchor boltsand respectively registering therewith, said slot means respectivelybeing adapted to receive said connecting elements, and said anchor boltsbeing urged into said slot means.
 3. A lock according to claim 1, inwhich said actuating means is formed by a rotatable disc, and in whichsaid stud means is formed by a pivot.
 4. A lock according to claim 1, inwhich said holding means includes an axially displaceable holding boltarranged in axial alignment with said one anchor bolt, and in which saidhousing means has a bore arranged in substantially axial alignment withsaid one anchor bolt for slidingly maintaining said holding bolt inaxial alignment with said one anchor bolt during axial movement of saidholding bolt.
 5. A lock according to claim 1, in which said anchor platemeans is of one and the same piece with said anchor bolts.
 6. A lockaccording to claim 4, in which one end of said holding bolt is truncatedcone shaped and normally in engagement with said one anchor bolt, and inwhich the other end of said holding bolt is convex and normally inengagement with said rotatable disc.
 7. A lock according to claim 4, inwhich the diameter of said holding bolt is shorter than the diameter ofsaid one anchor bolt.
 8. A lock according to claim 1, in which saidholding means includes angle lever means pivotally supported by saidhousing means laterally of the longitudinal axis of said one anchorbolt, one arm of said lever being yieldably urged into continuousengagement with said one anchor bolt.
 9. A lock according to claim 1, inwhich said anchor bolts have respectively associated therewith helicalspring means interposed between said anchor bolts and the bottom of saidhousing means.